her day often starts as it did yesterday, reporting live on "the today show" at the crack of dawn. by 1:00 p.m., she is reporting on the show, then hours later, good thursday morning. right now on first look. aerial castro due in court for stepsing. we'll hear how he was able to hold three women captive for a decade. new word that alex rodriguez is facing a life suspension if he can't cut a deal with major league baseball. george zimmerman back in the headlines after a traffic stop in texas. o.j. simpson wins parole but not his freedom and some nonbelievers get their sweet reven revenge. good morning, cleveland kidnapper aerial castro is expected to speak today at his sentencing hearing. as part of the plea deal he'll

be spared the death penalty. prosecutors say the man they call a monster will spend the rest of his days behind bars. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. aerial castro has agreed to that plea deal that includes a minimum sentence, life in prison and 1,000 years. for a crime they will detail for the first time in court today. we already know aerial castro's future. >> this man is going to prison for the rest of his life. >> reporter: today we'll learn about his horrific past. in hours prosecutors will present expert testimony that outlines decade of abuse for a man they call a monster. castro has pleaded guilty to kidnapping amanda berry, gina dejesus. and rape, assault and murder.

>> my addiction to pornography and sexual problem has taken a toll on my mind. >> reporter: castro will have the opportunity to say even more during today's hearing. . thank you for the support. >> reporter: so will his victims. so it's not clear if they will testify. since their escape the women have released one brief statement as they work to try to reclaim their lives. >> i am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face. and with my head held high. >> reporter: today's sentencing, one of the final important steps in that difficult walk. >> overnight cleveland police released a copy of a handwritten note from michelle knight thanking them for their help and continued support. one line reads, quote, slave tough, but i'm tougher. more than 10,000 people have donated more than a million dollars to a trust fund to help the women in their recovery.

live in cleveland. i'm jay gray. back to you. thank you. one of baseball's most famous athletes may never play again. nbc sports reporting that superstar slugger alex rodriguez could be banned for life from that sport. lawyers are reportedly trying to negotiate a deal to avoid that ban. as early as friday major league baseball is suspected to suspend a-rod and eight others suspected of using performance enhancing drugs. mlb is threatening to kick him out of the game all together. the new york daily news reports an investigation has turned up e-mails, text messages and other information showing rodriguez recruited athletes from the clinic and try to buy incriminating evidence. george zimmerman was pulled over for speeding and police said he had a gun with him. it handed 25 miles east of

dallas. zimmerman told the officer he had a gun in his glove compartment and was going, quote, nowhere in particular. the officer instructed him to slow down and released him with a verbal rp whatting. texas state law allows a person to carry a gun in a vehicle as long as it's not in plain view. zimm zimmer's lawyer posted that they are working to secure his privacy. this, after a new bombshell from the nsa. kelly o'donnell explains. . this is a recurring -- >> the brief new look inside the secrets of the nsa. the director of national intelligence released several documents to show an oversight of the spy program that sweeps up americans phone record data and the government is acknowledged using a wider net than previously known in what is

called hop analysis the nsa traces a call made by a terror suspect but can track the records linked to anyone the suspect calls and on to anyone each of those callers contact, and so on. senator dick durbin was clearly uneasy. >> when you look at the reach of this program and it envelopes a substantial number of americans. >> reporter: frustration between senators and the intelligence community starting with how nas leaker edward snowden was ever granted access to the country's most guarded spy programs. senator patrick leahy dismayed no heads are rolled at the nsa. >> a 29-year-old school dropout can come in and take out massive, massive amounts of data. it's obvious there weren't adequate controls. has anybody been fired? >> no, sir, not yet. >> has anybody been admonished? >> sir those investigations under way.

>> many senators believe the programs are necessary for national security say more is needed to ensure they're conducted legally. >> i don't want the public to take our word for it always. i think there's a balance here. >> reporter: the pushback goes beyond congress. in a conference in las vegas. a hecklers heckled. >> read the constitution. >> i have. you should, too. >> kelly o'donnell. nbc news, the capitol. and outside of our "first look" scrambled politics. the arizona and minnesota are the first state to legalize snej. senator rand paul is offering to bury the hatchet with chris kisskiss

chris chris christi. >> i try to keep things in a less personal way. with governor christi it's gotten to personal. we're ready to kiss and make up. >> senator paul offered to smooth things over by buying christie a beer. he said he does not have the time. the reverend jesse jackson is not backing down about the comments he made in the wake of the george zimmerman verdict. he said the state was the selma of our time. anthony weiner's pokeswoman is laughing off that rant she directed at a former intern. she tweeted this picture of a swear jar saying she should have known better. the democrats uphill battle to reelect mark pryor is getting tougher. tom cotton is expected to announce his bit. he's a veteran in the war in

afghanistan. after decades on the show, adult magazines like playboy and penthouse are being removed. the sexual assault hearings are believed to have played a role in that decision. kelly o'donnell got a sneak peek of the birdie cake for president obama. he turns 52 sunday. and jeff lake, the most beautiful person on the hill, and the most beautiful woman happens to be gale king's daughter. you learn new things around here. there's a new round of evacuations in washington as a massive wildfire continues to burn. the blaze is only 8% contained. authorities declard a state of emergency and implemented a stadewide ban on outdoor fires until the end of september. that's a look at our forecast.

i'm joined by bill. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. august 1st means adifferent thing to certain people. to weather people it means the real start to hurricane season and some the end of summer. >> why is that always on the mind of weather people. >> i know, this is the way we work. this is the mountain we're about to climb. this is where we are today. this is the graph representing frequency of tropical storms. that's why the next six weeks you should watch. remember, the predictions are 7 to 11 hurricanes. we haven't had any yet. typically we get our first one in the beginning of august. there is nothing out there. it is quiet. there's quick ets in the atlantic. this is fantastic news. a lot of sand off the coast of africa. we're in the clear for the first week of august. as far as what we're dealing with we have areas of rain in atlanta, rain will eventually

slide up into the northeast and possible airport delays in areas of new york, philadelphia mid day and still very hot in texas. it's pretty typical summer weather out there. nothing too extreme which is great. >> which is good. >> as long as we're not doing damage, we're all right. >> coming up how the u.s. is acting to al ashad's instagram account. and will you be willing to gain weight to get out of debt? coming up on msnbc. ♪

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some stories making news this morning. students will be getting a break on college loans soon. wednesday the house passed a bye partisan bill to fix interest rates for student loans. all that's left for president obama to sign that legislation into law. the ats officially has a new director. the senate confirmed byron todd jones. jones is the agency's first permanent director in seven

years. embattled syrian president bashar ashaud opened an instagram account. the photos show him working at his desk meeting women and children and looking like a great by. and o.j. simpson was granted parole on some of the charges from his 2008 kidnapping and armed robbery convictions. simpson will stay in prison for as long as four more years on other charges. a parole hearing on those charges won't come until next spring. now the first look at business. good morning. >> good morning. futures are higher after the fed offered no clues when it will cut back stimulus programs. investors show a surprise uptick in china's sector next week. apple's asian suppliers are reportedly gearing up for mass

production of a new ipad mini this fall. the wall street journal said a new tablet has higher resolution retina display and use screens from samsung. and july's sales are expected to be another strong month as dealers clear out remaining 2013 cars and trucks. kayla, thanks so much for that. just ahead the latest in the battle between college athletes and video game maker electronic arts. plus christian know on ald doe better stick to soccer. ...so you say men are superior drivers?

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silence. are you in good hands? time for stories with my colleague with all of the headlines. good morning. >> good morning to you. the baseball trade deadline was 4:00 p.m. yesterday. two moves to make the playoffs. the diamondbacks get reliever joe thatcher in that trade and houston's bud norris moves to the orioles. easy move. all they had to do is walk down the hall. that made it easy. in the game, astros clobber the birds. a court rejecting ea claiming its use of college football player likenesses is protected by the first amendment. well the court's decision now clears the way for other lawsuits. player damages could reach up to

$100 million. >> wow. >> looking good. president obama honors university of kentucky's basketball team. they are eight-time champs. the president saying he was proud they serve as role models to his two daughters. certainly. soccer superstar, cristiano ronaldo, you hate him, i know it. he is a big fan of ronaldo. soccer ball all good but baseball, watch this. not so good. ronaldo's ceremonial first pitch. >> he got it across the plate. like he threw it far enough. >> the plate is eight feet white wide. >> don't you get credit for distance? >> no. second throw much better. he throws it, he winds up here and gets it right over the plate. this is the one, right? >> look at this guy, we can forgive a lot. >> thank you, ma'am. thank you. >> remember justin bieber standing on the chicago black hawks logo?

black hawks fans were mad after that. three of them got a little revenge. they've taken a bieber photo stepping on his face in various faces. >> that's not immaterial. now what do you get in you get teen girls gasping. >> what is alex rodriguez doing to relieve stress? going to hooters, obviously. why not? he and a lady friend ordered 20 wings. they're not sure if the chickens had growth hormones. he did leave a great tip, though, he was very nice. unlike new orleans quarterback drew brees, evidently left a $3 tip on a $74 meal. he said hold on a second. he tweeted it was takeout, not table service. that's why i gave $3. >> that's a legitimate excuse. a lot of people don't tip anything on takeout. >> he made $40 million last

year. >> that's true. >> it's time to dig deeper into some of our top political stories. joining me for the first look at politics is bob franken. good morning. >> good morning you to. >> let's start with president obama's meeting on the hill. he was with democrats for what has been called a party pep rally. what do you think the main battles they will be facing when congress comes back into session after labor day. >> the question is what battles won't they be facing? i suppose number one, there are actually two number ones, health care and the republican efforts to fund that and sort of meld that with all of the budget negotiations and the purpose of the president's visit yesterday was to assure democrats that he was not going to be a pushover for the republicans like many think he's been in the past. >> this week we've seen pretty bitter infighting between chris christie and rand paul. a lot of pundits are saying this is about the future of the party. what direction do you think the gop is headed in towards

christieland or paulville. >> if you can't believe the pundits, who can you be? >> coming from the pundit. >> i'm a pundit wanna-be. the battle is for the battle of the soul of the party. there's one other factor that has to be put into the mix, that is the social issues, abortion, and gay rights and the like. and there was a poll that was just done by pugh about the republican party. there's apparently a consensus that they should move further to the right which many professionals say is the wrong thing to do. >> i couldn't let a segment go by without the mention of anthony weiner. his wife is a force in her own right behind the scenes. how do you think her husband's scandal will impact her own political future? >> many people believe she's the next generation of hillary clinton. she had quite the political future when she went through her

husband's tra veils when he was president. >> interesting, anthony weiner is no bill clinton. . but he is a candidate for mayor so far. >> we'll tell you about all of the stories that caught our eye today. that's coming up. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter... because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. thto fight chronic. osteoarthritis pain. also available in delicious peanut butter. to fight chronic low back pain. to take action. to take the next step. today, you will know you did something for your pain.

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it's time for "first buzz." here's a question for you guys, would you be willing to gain weight, 25 pounds, to get out of debt. richard? . yes. >> phil? >> no. no way. >> there's their was a poll

done, 28% said they would be willing to gain 25 pounds to get out of debt. 43% said their weight is more important. >> money's money. your health -- >> i guess where you're starting, 25 pounds is all muscle. could be all fat. >> maybe that should be our bet here. >> i think i'm stating the obvious but it clearly depends you value the way you look and feel or thele value you place on money. >> i would rather look good and live on the streets. >> and kick alliss just. >> yes. 4.5 views so far. this norwegian doing so many amazing things. he hit six 50-yarders. he hit it into a garbage can. the first ball he hits in

mid-air. now what is happening, he's in detroit in training camp doing really well. he hit 11 of 11 so far in scrimmages. they are looking at him very closely. >> i have to ask a stupid question. the distance he's kicking, 50 yards how does that compare to an nfl kicker? >> he hit 60-yarders. >> is that good? >> almost every nfl kicker can make it from the 50s. it's how consistently. >> six 50s. he hit -- the current detroit punter has hid a 63 last year. so that's the question whether the existing punter can actually do better. >> we'll see how he goes. >> but he's doing well. >> good for him. >> this is clearly a panda bear story. >> this is about as deep as i can get and intense. >> let see what it looks like to be a polar bear. >> a polar bear not a panda bear. >> they put a pro camera on him.

>> i want to know how who is brave enough to strap a camera on the polar bear. >> the whole point is they want to test this. eventually they want to put this on a real polar bear in the wild so they can study the habitat. >> got to run. "way too early" starts right now. our nation takes stopping terrorism as one of the most important tings. >> freedom. >> exactly. >> but i think what you're saying is that in these cases, what's the decision? where is the discussion? and what tools should we have to stop those. >> they're all saying they don't trust you. >> why would we believe you're not like us right now. you lied to congress. i haven't lied to congress. >> new revelations about the nsa

surveillance program and why the agency says it is absolutely necessary. governor christi's surprising response to senator rand saul's beer summit offering and the companies changing rules on credit card companies and how much they can charge for retail purchases this is "way too early." ♪ hey, everybody, good morning, i'm thomas. it's thursday, believe it or not august 1. we have new developments in on the a-rod saga and anthony weiner allies. first, the u.s. is restarting dialogue with pakistan. secretary of state